Currently…

I am also a very slow writer. As a result, posts tend to lag what I am currently thinking about. This page is updated with ideas that I am actively considering.

TL;DR

  • Walking the 500 mile Camino de Santiago starting in Saint Jean Pied de Port (SJPP) on May 6. An extended time of reflection, prayer, and meeting all sorts of people. We will be ignoring email and social media. Our packs weight less than 6lbs. My list.

Home Base?

We will be living a semi-nomadic existence as we determine where to plant ourselves for the next season of life. Mountain View will continue to be “home base” for now with us periodically returning to keep connections with our community and friends. While we are gone, our house will used by others through AirBNB or HomExchange. Everything I need has been trimmed down to a carry on size bag. We will spend 1 – 6 weeks in each location, often chaining the locations together before returning to Mountain View. We are mixing purely “tourist” destinations with places we are considering to be our next home base. Our approach is to “scout” locations for a week to get a sense of the place, and if we liked what we saw, return for at least a month. Once we have narrowed down our list for a few locations we will pray and listen to our hearts. If there is no place that is calling us we will spend six months in each of the finalist cities until we settle on where will be “home”. Who knows. maybe we will decide we should stay in the Bay Area. Upcoming travel:

  • May-June 15: Paris, Camino de Santiago, England seeing friends
  • June 16-??: Likely back to the Bay Area for a bit, but maybe Lisbon, Malta, Croatia, and/or the Alpe Adria Trail since we are in the neighborhood. Maybe TW depending on what’s happening with Jackie’s family.

The Nature of Second Half of Life / “Retirement“

  • Changing focus: what is pursued (Falling Upward), Types of intelligence (Strength to Strength), Āśrama, etc
  • Intentional / Rhythms of Life
  • Ikigai

Love: is the heart of everything that is good

  • Love is an infinite resource because it comes from God’s nature, and it grows as it is shared. Numerous videos try to capture what happens when people “pay it forward“, how simple acts of kindness can become viral and sometimes boomerang back.
  • Small, simple acts of service which change others can have an exponental impact. Further my “samaritan experiment” mentioned in Relational Openness and Delightful Surprises. Maybe the best way to impact the world is in simple service to neighbors which encourages them to love others as well. People under estimate the impact of small acts has discussed on Hidden Brain’s A Secret Source of Connection.
  • Love is the ultimate measuring stick. It should be the basis of our ethics, the rooting of our decision making process, the heart of our values. When things are unclear “what is loving” can be like a searchlight in the dark.
  • The fruit of the spirit is love (singular). The rest of Gal 5:22 “joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. If you have some and miss others you are out of balance and likely not exhibiting love.
  • Why churches seem to forget to love in spite of it being the greatest commandment and the basis that the world should judge our faith? How to fix this? The Mark of a Christian by Francis Schaeffer has some theories. How to fight against the weaponized of religion, using it as a way to separate rather than authentic faith that calls for us bring the “other” close, to pursue true justice, care and compassion for all. Writings of Miroslav Volf seem to have some good ideas.

How people grow and mature

  • Spiritual formation… living an interactive life with God such as advocated by Renovare. Participate in the Renovare Bookclub.
  • The theory put forth by Jim Wilder that what we most need is a healthy attachment to God and other people. That effective transformation is forming attachments / forging an identity which informs our “fast” brain rather that focusing all our energy our our much slower, conscious brain.
  • The Nature of the Mind/Consciences. What is the mind, the soul, the heart and how does this all work. Embodied Intellegence? Quantum Consciousness? Mind’s perception and Wolfram’s ruliad

Gratitude

  • We often fall to tell people how much they mean to us. Rather than waiting til the last moments of their lives, or at a memorial service (Libby, Dad, Doug) I am considering who has had a large impact on my life and thanking them for their influence.
  • I have discovered that people often had no idea how much of an influence they had. Interactions which were pivotal for me we not remembered by the other person. I have also discovered that I played a pivot role in their lives and often could not remember specific interactions which they clearly remember.
  • Being grateful can defend against adaptive hedonism. I still am amazed by the natural beauty of the Santa Cruz hills which I see each day when I leave my home.

How to have a good Healthspan

  • Centenarian Olympics (inspired by Peter Attia)
  • Unfreezing my shoulder
  • Tai Chi daily
  • Updating my body weight exercise regiment to work with my shoulder and the lack on any equipment

Later

  • VO2max of 50 is my target in 2023. Try improving breathing using o2trainer.
  • Learn more about cardiac disease, get an updated lipid panel, etc
  • Later start jump rope

Technology

  • After using Evernote since 2009 with thousands on notes I have finally given up on it. In the last several years I find Evernote has gotten slower and less reliable. It’s time to find a new system. Thought it might be OneNote, but ended up in Bear because tagging is better, good export capabilities (won’t be trapped), the UI is better, more natural to use on Apple products, and end2end encryption. I will later investigate obsidian.
  • Help friend develop a SRE / SecDevOps curriculum for his university